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Fun Fact Friday

Here is a fun fact related to a Disney Park AND and treasured Disney Movie!

Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage opened at “Theater of the Stars” along Sunset Boulevard at MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) on November 22, 1991. Okay so I get it, you’re thinking what is the big deal… well the unique piece of trivia is that November 22, 1991 was the exact same day that the movie Beauty and the Beast opened in theaters across the United States. This was the first time ever that a stage show opened the same day as the movie that inspired it.

The 25 minute stage show has been running multiple shows daily for nearly 26 years now! If you’re a Beauty and the Beast fan be sure to check out the show next time you’re at Hollywood Studios.

If you’re ready to book your next trip to Disney be sure to contact Ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com. Her planning services are free of charge to you, and she can help you from booking to dining reservations and fast pass selections!

Cars 3 has taken the nation by storm as the number 1 comedy in America the past two weeks. Mr. Mouskaholic and I have seen it twice already and we loved it!

As much as we loved it I sat in the theater wondering the entire time, how did they do Doc Hudson’s voice? In the original Cars movie came out in 2006, Doc Hudson was voiced by Paul Newman. Newman passed away at the age 83 in 2008. With the story line of Cars 2, it wasn’t really necessary to “resurrect” the voice of Doc. However Cars 3’s storyline relies on Doc Hudson’s character (that’s all I’ll say, no spoilers!). So as I sat in the theater, I thought WOW, whoever they got to do the voice of Doc Hudson sounds A LOT like Paul Newman! I immediately got on IMDB.com after the movie to see who they got to replace Newman, and much to my surprise it listed Paul Newman as the voice of Doc.

Now some of the lines that Doc Hudson says in Cars 3 are recycled from the original, but there are other new lines that Doc has in the newest film. So how did they do it? Well John Lasseter was definitely thinking ahead. Paul Newman was quite the story teller, so whenever they weren’t officially recording, they kept the tapes rolling per John Lasseter’s requests. They ended up with 28 additional hours of recordings of the late Newman that they were able to pull from to use as the voice of the “Fabulous Hudson Hornet.” In addition to the 28 hours of recordings Pixar had on file, they were also able to contact the Newman Foundation for additional archived recordings. Pretty amazing stuff right!

Fun Fact- Did you know that the character Eve from Wall-E was designed in part by the same person who designed the iPod, the iPhone, and iMac!

“I wanted Eve to be high-end technology – no expense spared – and I wanted it to be seamless and for the technology to be sort of hidden and subcutaneous,” Andrew Stanton, Wall-E’s director, told Fortune. “The more I started describing it, the more I realized I was pretty much describing the Apple playbook for design.”

Andrew Stanton

Andrew Stanton began working on the ideas for the movie in 2005 and asked Steve Jobs (Apple CEO and majority shareholder of Pixar at the time) for consultation work, and Steve sent him Johnathan Ive.

Jonathan Ive and Steve Jobs

Ive is a quiet man, but consulted and worked with Stanton on the design, offering his suggestions. So the man who brought us groundbreaking designs like the iPod and iPhones has placed his thumbprint on a small piece of Disney history.

Soarin’ Over California opened at Disney’s California Adventure park in the Condor Flats area of the park on February 8, 2001. It was so popular that it was duplicated and added to “The Land” pavilion at Epcot on May 5th, 2005. In honor of the opening day at Epcot the flight number is 5505.

In 2016 the ride closed for refurbishments on January 4th. It reopened on June 17th, 2016 as “Soarin’ Around the World.” This reimagined ride still pays homage to the original opening day at Epcot.

Next time you’re at Epcot listen for the flight attendants (cast members in the Soarin’ area) to announce that flight number 5505 (Get it, 5505 is the date 5/5/2005) is now departing 🙂

About 5 or 6 years ago I got really into pin trading at Disney (some may say obsessed…) One of the characters that really intrigued me was this little orange bird character. At the time I didn’t know much about him, but he was cute, playful, and I made it my goal to collect all of his pins! Every cast member I interacted with I was searching for orange bird pins! (FYI, I totally collected them all too… it took two trips to do it, but I have them all through trading!)

While I was definitely excited about collecting his pins I had NO IDEA who orange bird was, so I did a little research-

Who is Orange Bird?

The Orange Bird was created in 1970 as a mascot for the Florida Citrus Commission in exchange for them sponsoring the Tiki Room attraction at Magic Kingdom. Accompanied by singer Anita Bryant the two appeared in ads for Florida oranges and Bryant narrated a record album telling the character’s story. After the Anita Bryant ad campaign was dropped in the late 70s, the Orange Bird had a solo career and appeared in a few educational shorts in the 1980s such as Foods and Fun: A Nutrition Adventure and The Orange Bird and the Nutrition Bandwagon. Eventually, the bird would fade into obscurity when Disney and the FCC severed their ties in 1987.

Years later, at Tokyo Disneyland in 2004, the Orange Bird would experience a revival as the Japanese became infatuated with the character and the character received a lot of merchandising to coincide with Japan’s annual Orange Day on April 14th of that year. The Orange Bird soon returned to appearing regularly on merchandise in the US as well.

The Orange Bird appeared at Magic Kingdom as a walk around character during that park’s first decade. He would often be found roaming Adventureland, outside the Enchanted Tiki Room. A figure of the character was also perched in a spot behind the counters of the Sunshine Tree Terrace, which has since been restored to the location after having spent years in the Disney Archives. Orange Bird merchandise can be found in retail locations at both Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort, despite the fact that the character otherwise never appeared at the latter.

Eventually, on April 17, 2012, the Orange Bird made a proper return to the Sunshine Tree Terrace.

Unlike other birds, the Orange Bird is incapable of singing or speaking and instead communicates with orange-colored thought bubbles. He is mocked by other birds as a result of this and Orange Bird generally looks for friends wherever he goes.

Monday was President’s Day, so I published a rare “Fun Fact Monday” (it just doesn’t roll off the tongue like Fun Fact Friday!). There is SO much to know about this attraction though, so today I would like to follow up with some more fun facts!

Fun Fact #1– The only place that you can see the Presidential Seal on display outside of the White House is at the Hall of Presidents. In fact, it took Congressional approval for the seal to be displayed at the Magic Kingdom. The seal is surrounded by a small fence to protect it from guests standing on it.

Fun Fact #2– The Hall of Presidents opened up on October 1, 1971 when the Magic Kingdom first opened it’s doors, making it one of Disney World’s original attractions. The attraction has been running for nearly 46 year now, and has to close every 4 to 8 years to undergo refurbishments to make way for the newest POTUS. (The Hall is currently closed to make way for the new President Trump audio animatronic figure, and will re-open on June 29, 2017).

Fun Fact #3- When Epcot’s Spaceship Earth needed audio animatronics, molds of the presidents were used for to speed up the process! Teddy Roosevelt was recreated into an Egyptian priest and again as a senator in Rome. James Buchanan was made into Johannes Gutenberg and can be seen standing next to the life changing printing press. Eisenhower is the lute player and the sculptor is actually from the mold of Ulysses S. Grant. Two more presidents, Franklin Pierce and John Tyler, can also be seen as scholars.

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If you’re ready to book your next vacation be sure to email Ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com for your free quote. Her booking and planning services are always free of charge.

Happy Monday from the Mouskaholic and Mr. Mouskaholic! We’ve had an exciting weekend, creating and launching the “Confessions of a Mouskaholic” YouTube Channel! If you missed it, check it here- Episode 1- Meet the Mouskaholics

If you’ve been following for a while now, you know that I normally dedicate my Monday posts to Disney Music and that Friday, is my “Fun Fact” day, however with the Monday holiday, it seemed more fitting to honor American history and a Magic Kingdom classic.

I will start off by first saying that the Hall of Presidents is currently closed for refurbishment. With the election of our 45th President, Disney imagineers are hard at work creating the audio animatronic version of Donald J. Trump. All of the presidents throughout American history are represented in this 23 minute theatrical style presentation. The Hall of Presidents closed on January 17th and is set to re-open on June 29th, 2017. (We will be on our trip to Disney World at this time, and will be sure to snap some photos!)

Fact #1– The outside of the Hall of Presidents is designed to look like Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The 1787 on the front of the building is representative of the year that the constitution was signed.

Magic Kingdom- Hall of Presidents

Independence Hall- Philadelphia

Fact #2– The auditorium inside the Hall of Presidents can accommodate 700 park goers at a time! Don’t be discouraged if you see a long line for the attraction. For this 23 minute show, turn over is quick, and nearly always is able to empty the queue when filling the auditorium.

Fact #3– There is a “Hidden Mickey” cleverly disguised in a painting in the lobby. So next time you’re in line for the attraction, be sure to look for the painting. The Hidden Mickey can be located at the tip of George Washington’s sword.

Look for more fun facts about the Hall of Presidents in this coming Friday’s- Fun Fact Friday post!

Be sure to follow Confessions of a Mouskaholic on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/mouskaholic

Instagram- @TheMouskaholic

Twitter- @TheMouskaholic

If you’re ready to book your next vacation be sure to email Ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com for your free quote. Her booking and planning services are always free of charge.